Accuser given 5 years for lying about jail rape

Woman had claimed mental illnesses

A 27-year-old Jacksonville woman who lied about being raped and beaten by a Pulaski County jailer has been sentenced to five years in prison for the deception and other crimes.

Sentencing papers filed Thursday by deputy prosecutor Sarah Cowan show Raven Nicole Collins has pleaded guilty to filing a false report with a law enforcement agency, breaking or entering, reduced from robbery, and failure to appear.

Court files show that Collins claimed to have been raped by a jail sergeant during the week she was in custody in November 2017 on a shoplifting charge.

She told investigators that the man, whose name she didn't know, took her out of her cell and into a small room where he tried to force her to perform oral sex.

Collins, who is also known as Raven Baxter and Raven McGuire, said the man threatened to beat her if she didn't comply, then forced himself on her. Collins told investigators she bit him and he beat her unconscious.

Police watched 96 hours of jail surveillance video and determined that the incident did not happen. Collins was never removed from her cell by anyone matching the description of the jailer that she gave investigators, court filings show.

Confronted with the findings of the investigation, Collins said she has bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, which might have caused her to hallucinate an attack. However, further in the interview, she admitted to lying about being raped so that her mother would bail her out of jail. Court records show she posted bail two days after making the false accusation.

State doctors found Collins was not mentally ill, according to a mental examination in her court file.

The breaking-or-entering charge stems from Collins' November arrest for stealing hair from the American Beauty Supply store on Camp Robinson Road. Police say she got away by threatening the owner, James Chung, with an electric stun gun.

Court records show Collins has been on probation since September 2015 when she was convicted of theft for stealing $1,800 worth of gift cards from the Little Rock Best Buy while working at the store. Her probation was extended the next year after she was arrested over PCP possession in Sherwood in July 2015.

Metro on 05/26/2019

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